New animal shelter replaces troubled one in South Platte Valley

Nick Fisher is planning an event in February to mark the opening of his new animal shelter. But a basset hound named MacArthur kind of beat him to the punch.

“He was the first dog brought in here, on Christmas Eve,” said Fisher, CEO of the new Humane Society of the South Platte Valley. “He got adopted today (Jan. 22).”

He expects there will be many more.

“We’re serving a community that has been underserved for a long time,” Fisher said.

The new shelter grew out of the collapse of the Colorado Humane Society’s shelter, which used to serve the area.

The managers of Colorado Humane were accused of mismanaging shelter funds and euthanizing animals to make room for more adoptable ones. They denied any wrongdoing. State Attorney General John Suthers, however, appointed an outside custodian in December 2008 to run the shelter.

The cities of Littleton and Englewood awarded animal service contracts to the South Platte Valley shelter last November.

A phone call to Colorado Humane early this week was greeted by a recording: “As of Dec. 22, (Coloradado Humane) has closed
all shelters indefinitely. We are transitioning back to our roots as a statewide cruelty prevention organization.” It referred animal owners to the new shelter.

But on Wednesday, the former executive director of Colorado Humane and her husband were barred from operating or managing charitable organizations for the next decade, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced,

In addition, the pair — former executive director Mary Warren and her husband, Robert Warren, the former development director of the society — are prohibited from owning and operating any business covered by the Colorado Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, such as an animal shelter, for the next five years.

Mary Warren’s daughter, Stephanie L. Gardner, who was director of the organization’s operations, was barred from operating a charity for the next two years and operating any business covered by the Colorado Pet Animal Care Act.

Fisher said last week that the cities of Englewood and Littleton contacted him and a group of others to find a new arrangement for the Colorado Humane Society, “As we started looking into it, we thought it was better to start our own organization.,” he said. ” So we filed for non-profit status with the state.”

Fisher is former director of the Table Mountain Animal Shelter in Golden.

He explained the new facility is an “open admission” shelter. What that means is spelled out in a mission on the shelter’s website: “As an Open Admission shelter, we accept any animal in need. We will not turn away any animal.”

Visitors to the shelter at 2139 West Chenango Ave. Unit A in Littleton will find a 6,500-square foot warehouse with 58 kennels A backyard play area for dogs is planned.

“People who come in like the vibe,” Fisher said.

The shelter will begin low-cost spays and neuters next month.

Fisher said all animals that are adopted will get a free rabies shot through an arrangement with VCA animal clinics. If needed. VCA will also provide up to $500 worth of care for any lingering problems.

The shelter also has an arrangement with three Petco stores for adoptions.

The public grand opening celebration (except for a certain basset hound) will be Feb. 27 from noon until 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

Reach the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley at 303 703-2928 or www.hsspv.org.

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PET CALENDAR

Pet telethon – The Dumb Friends League’s annual pet telethon will be held Sunday, Jan. 31 from noon until 5 p.m. on Fox
31/ KDVR-TV. It wii feature adoptable pets and stories about animals helped by gifts from the public.

Travel and OutWest editor Kyle Wagner grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in Lake County, Ill., and Naples, Fla., before moving to Denver in 1993, where she reviewed restaurants for Westword before moving to The Denver Post in 2002. She considers the best days to be those that involve her teenage daughters and doing something outside, preferably mountain biking or whitewater rafting.

Dean Krakel is a photo editor (primarily sports) at The Denver Post. A native of Wyoming, he has authored three books, "Season of the Elk," "Downriver" and "Krakel's West." An avid kayaker, rafter, mountain biker, trail runner, telemark skier and backpacker, Dean's outdoor adventures have taken him around the world.

Douglas Brown was raised about 30 miles west of Philadelphia in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he spent a lot of time running around in the woods and fields (where he hunted and explored), and in the ocean (where he surfed and stared at the horizon). Now he lives in Boulder and spends as much time hiking, running, skiing and boarding the High Country (and the Boulder foothills) as possible.

Ricardo Baca is the entertainment editor and pop music critic at The Denver Post, as well as the founder and executive editor of Reverb and the co-founder of The UMS. Happy days often involve at least one of these: whitewater rafting, snowshoeing, vintage Vespas, writing, camping, live music, road trips, snowboarding or four-wheeling.